[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 205 (Monday, October 24, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65681-65683]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-27404]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Black Hills National Forest, Mystic Ranger District, South 
Dakota, Calumet Project Area

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS).

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SUMMARY: The Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact 
statement on a proposal to use multiple vegetation treatments focused 
on reducing the threat to ecosystem components including forest 
resources from an existing insect and disease epidemic (mountain pine 
beetle), creating a landscape condition more adapted to fire and that 
reduces potential for high severity wildfire near at-risk communities 
and in the wildland-urban interface. The proposal is being planned for 
the 31,772 acre Calumet Project Area that includes about 27,617 acres 
of National Forest System land and about 4,155 acres of interspersed 
private land. The project area lies approximately six miles southwest 
of Rapid City, SD. Sheridan Lake is also located within the project 
area. This project will be conducted as an authorized project under 
Section 102 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (HFRA). 
Actions proposed for the Calumet Project Area include the following:
     Thin and harvest approximately 14,954 acres of pine stands 
using a variety of methods to treat MPB infested stands, reduce the 
overall density of pine trees and create a mosaic of structural stages 
across the landscape. Both commercial and non-commercial sized trees 
would be removed utilizing multiple contracts including

[[Page 65682]]

stewardship, timber sale, and service contracts.
     Remove conifers from hardwood stands (e.g., aspen, oak, 
and birch) and restore meadows on approximately 3,497 acres to provide 
habitat diversity and wildfire protection by enhancing natural fuel 
breaks.
     Reduce the amount of fuels that currently exists. 
Treatments could include (but are not limited to) lopping, chipping, 
crushing, piling and burning; creating fuel breaks along roads and 
adjacent to private property, particularly those properties with houses 
and subdivisions. Roadway treatments would improve access (ingress/
egress) for the public, as well as emergency services in the event of a 
wildfire. Prescribed broadcast burning would also be allowed anywhere 
strategically practical within the project area, up to approximately 
27,000 acres. The goals of prescribed fire are to reduce fuel loading 
and continuity to help protect private property and Forest resources, 
and to increase the quantity and quality of forage for big game and 
other wildlife resources. Annually, the Mystic Ranger District conducts 
approximately 2,000 to 4,000 acres of prescribed broadcast burning. 
These annual, accomplished acres are spread across the district and are 
split among multiple planning areas. Burning designated areas within 
the Calumet Project Area could take up to ten years to accomplish.
     Use of existing road templates, with less than five miles 
of new construction, would be required to carry out vegetation 
treatments.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis would be most 
useful if received by 30-days following the date of this notice. The 
draft environmental impact statement is expected to be available for 
public review by February 2012 and the final environmental impact 
statement is expected to be completed by May 2012.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Jackie Groce, Acting District 
Ranger, Black Hills National Forest, Mystic Ranger District, Calumet 
Project Area, 8221 South Highway 16, Rapid City, South Dakota 57702. 
Telephone Number: (605) 343-1567. E-mail: [email protected] with ``Calumet'' as the subject. 
Electronic comments must be readable in Word, Rich Text, or PDF 
formats.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have any questions or need 
additional information, please contact Lou Conroy, Team Leader or 
Jackie Groce, Acting District Ranger, at the Mystic Ranger District 
office in Rapid City at (605) 343-1567.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The actions proposed are in direct response 
to management direction provided by the Black Hills National Forest 
Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan). The site specific 
actions are designed, based on Forest Plan Standards and Guidelines, to 
move existing resource conditions in the Calumet Project Area toward 
meeting Forest Plan Goals and Objectives. The project area lies 
approximately six miles southwest of Rapid City, SD. Sheridan Lake is 
also located within the project area. Anticipated issues include: 
reducing MPB infestation and risk; protecting local communities, 
private and public lands, infrastructure and access from severe 
wildfire; associated fire and fuels hazard reduction needs in the 
wildland-urban interface; support or opposition to forest thinning 
using commercial timber harvest; impacts of vegetation treatment and 
multiple forest uses on wildlife habitat. The range of alternatives 
analyzed in the EIS is expected to be consistent with Sec. 104 of HFRA.

Purpose and Need for Action

    The purpose of the Calumet Project is to:
     Moves existing land and resource conditions toward desired 
conditions as specified in the Forest Plan.
     Reduce the threat to ecosystem components including forest 
resources, from the existing insect and disease (mountain pine beetle) 
epidemic.
     Restore resource conditions to a healthy, resilient fire-
adapted ecosystem.
     Help protect local communities and resources from 
catastrophic wildfire.
    This project is focused on implementing management actions that 
move toward achieving:
     Desired conditions and objectives embodied in Goals 2, 3, 
7, and 10 of the Forest Plan (as amended).
     Goals and objectives applicable to Forest Plan Management 
Area (MA) 3.7--Late Successional Forest Landscape (~780 acres); MA 5.1 
Resource Production Emphasis (~5,621 acres); MA 5.4--Big Game Winter 
Range Emphasis (~18,259 acres); and MA 8.2 Developed Recreation Complex 
(~2,686 acres), that lie within Calumet Project Area, described in 
Chapter III of the Forest Plan (Phase II Amendment).
     Goals of the Healthy Forest Restoration Act (HFRA) of 2003 
(HR 1904) and other National level initiatives and policy that provide 
procedural tools to hasten processes focused on reducing insects or 
disease on public and adjacent private lands, and reducing the 
probability and occurrence of severe wildfire in the fire adapted 
ecosystems, especially near at risk communities and in the wildland-
urban interface. Moreover, it is appropriate that proposed actions be 
designed in consideration of the fuels hazard reduction management 
recommendations and guidelines provided by the Pennington County 
Community Wildfire Protection Plan of 2007.

Proposed Action

    Proposed actions include the following:
     Thin and harvest approximately 14,954 acres of pine stands 
using a variety of methods to treat MPB infested stands, reduce the 
overall density of pine trees and create a mosaic of structural stages 
across the landscape. Both commercial and non-commercial sized trees 
would be removed utilizing multiple contracts including stewardship, 
timber sale, and service contracts.
     Remove conifers from hardwood stands (e.g., aspen, oak, 
and birch) and restore meadows on approximately 3,497 acres to provide 
habitat diversity and wildfire protection by enhancing natural fuel 
breaks.
     Reduce the amount of fuels that currently exists. 
Treatments could include (but are not limited to) lopping, chipping, 
crushing, piling and burning; creating fuel breaks along roads and 
adjacent to private property, particularly those properties with houses 
and subdivisions. Roadway treatments would improve access (ingress/
egress) for the public, as well as emergency services in the event of a 
wildfire. Prescribed broadcast burning would also be allowed anywhere 
strategically practical within the project area, up to approximately 
27,000 acres. The goals of prescribed fire are to reduce fuel loading 
and continuity to help protect private property and Forest resources, 
and to increase the quantity and quality of forage for big game and 
other wildlife resources. Annually, the Mystic Ranger District conducts 
approximately 2,000 to 4,000 acres of prescribed broadcast burning. 
These annual, accomplished acres are spread across the district and are 
split among multiple planning areas. Burning designated areas within 
the Calumet Project Area could take up to ten years to accomplish.
     Use of existing road templates, with less than five miles 
of new construction, would be required to carry out vegetation 
treatments.

[[Page 65683]]

Responsible Official

    District Ranger, Mystic Ranger District, Black Hills National 
Forest, 8221 South Highway 16, Rapid City, South Dakota 57702.

Nature of Decision To Be Made

    The decision to be made is whether or not to implement the proposed 
action or possible alternative at this time.

Scoping Process

    Comments and input regarding the proposal will be received via 
direct mailing from the public, other groups, and agencies during the 
initial public comment period in October and November 2011. If you 
would like to be more involved, a public meeting is scheduled for 
Thursday, November 3, 2011, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Mystic Ranger 
District Office, Rapid City, South Dakota. Comments submitted based on 
this NOI will be most useful if received within 30-days from the date 
of this notice. Response to the draft EIS will be sought from the 
interested public beginning in February 2012.

Comment Requested

    This notice of intent provides information that the agency will 
prepare an environmental impact statement in response to public comment 
and feedback during the October and November 2011, scoping period. 
Comments received will assist the planning team to develop the mailing 
list for the draft EIS and help identify key issues and opportunities 
used to refine the proposal or possible alternative and mitigation 
measures. Comments on the DEIS will be requested during the 45-day 
comment period following the Notice of Availability, expected to be 
published in the Federal Register in February 2012 (See discussion 
below).

Early Notice of Importance of Public Participation in Subsequent 
Environmental Review

    The Forest Service believes, at this early stage, it is important 
to give reviewers notice of several court rulings related to public 
participation in the environmental review process. First, reviewers of 
draft environmental impact statements must structure their 
participation in the environmental review of the proposal so that it is 
meaningful and alerts an agency to the reviewer's position and 
contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 
553 (1978). Also, environmental objections that could be raised at the 
draft environmental impact statement stage but that are not raised 
until after completion of the final environmental impact statement may 
be waived or dismissed by the courts. City of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 F.2d 
1016, 1022 (9th Cir. 1986) and Wisconsin Heritages, Inc. v. Harris, 490 
F. Supp. 1334, 1338 (E.D. Wis. 1980). Because of these court rulings, 
it is very important that those interested in this proposed action 
participate by the close of the 45-day comment period so that 
substantive comments and objections are made available to the Forest 
Service at a time when it can meaningfully consider them and respond to 
them in the final environmental impact statement.
    To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues 
and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the draft 
environmental impact statement should be as specific as possible. It is 
also helpful if comments refer to specific pages or chapters of the 
draft statement. Comments may also address the adequacy of the draft 
environmental impact statement or the merits of the alternatives 
formulated and discussed in the statement. Reviewers may wish to refer 
to the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for implementing 
the procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act at 
40 CFR 1503.3 in addressing these points.

    Authority: 40 CFR 1501.7 and 1508.22; Forest Service Handbook 
1909.15, Section 21.

    Dated: October 17, 2011.
Robert J. Thompson,
Acting Deputy Forest Supervisor, Black Hills National Forest.
[FR Doc. 2011-27404 Filed 10-21-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-P